Not because of President-elect Francois Hollande’s pledge to boost taxes; rather for what his victory says about how wealth is viewed in France, the entrepreneur said.

“What’s really driving my departure is that I don’t share the values that emerged during the election, the rejection of ambition and success,” he said. “It’s part of France’s difficult relationship with money, but it has reached a new level. Even if it’s utopian, I need to believe for me and my descendants that the sky is the limit.”

France, the fifth-richest country and home to some of the world’s wealthiest people, including Bernard Arnault, chief executive of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, doesn’t celebrate its affluent. Mr. Hollande, a Socialist who once said “I don’t like the rich,” and who plans to slap a 75% tax on income of more than 1-million euros ($1.29 million), reinforces the sentiment that in France to be rich is not glorious.

“Hollande is using the 75% tax as a symbol to convey certain values through stigmatization,” Mr. Le Febvre said.

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Mr. Hollande’s rhetoric against wealth and finance is prompting some in France to consider leaving, and European rivals are welcoming them. Bienvenue a Londres, or welcome to London, Mayor Boris Johnson quipped in January. Switzerland and Belgium have been just as warm.

Real estate agents in Brussels and Geneva report having several inquiries from lawyers on behalf of French clients. For London, Mr. Hollande’s millionaire tax announcement during this year’s election campaign triggered a 30% spike in searches from France for prime properties in wealthy neighbourhoods such as South Kensington and Chelsea, real estate agent Knight Frank LLP said.

“Seen from abroad, France is the last country where an entrepreneur wants to go,” Marc Simoncini, the founder of French dating site Meetic. com, said in an interview on BFM TV last week.

“I don’t know of any British person who’s come to set up a business in France. But I know plenty of young French people who’ve gone to London to do that.”

The attacks on the moneyed class intensified during the presidential race, leaving entrepreneurs and other wealth creators feeling like pariahs, said Michel Collet, a tax lawyer at Paris-based law firm CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre.

“The rich are fed up with being stigmatized,” he said. “Beyond the expectation of higher taxes, another important reason why our clients say they want to move abroad is that the negative perception of wealth has mounted in the past weeks.”

The attitude toward business and wealth creators is driving people away, said Diane Segalen, founder of Segalen & Associes, an executive search firm specializing in top management and board members.

“It’s not only for people who don’t want to be taxed 75%, but people who want to be in a country where they think they can do business,” she said. “They want to be in a country where there’s stability in taxes and labour laws, and where they aren’t at risk when they try to set up a business.”

Talent and skills will go where they are welcome, she said.

“If they’re relatively young and have some assets, they’re usually tempted to move to the U.K. or the U.S. to develop their business,” Mr. Collet said. “Typically, they tend to retire in Switzerland because there is no estate tax, and to move to Belgium when they’re looking to sell assets with no taxes on their gains.”

While Mr. Hollande is raising taxes, the U.K., cut its 50% tax rate for annual income above £150,000 ($242,500) to 45% last month. Its top capital-gains rate is 28% and there’s no wealth tax.